Faint signs of life at Worcester Regional Airport

It’s hard to be an optimist when it comes to Worcester Regional Airport, as it has let this region down so many times. Direct Air, which abruptly stopped flying last March and subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection, is only the most recent example.

The airport is littered with airlines big and small that have pulled out, including Allegiant Air (2006), U.S. Airways Express (2003), American Eagle (2002), Pan American Airways (2002) and ASA/Delta Connection (2002). When Direct Air folded, Worcester’s airport was left with no passenger service.

And that is a tough pill for this region to swallow. More than a million people live within an hour’s drive of the airport, but it cannot support even one passenger airline service? It’s absurd. And yet, it has been a repeating pattern.

The airport is an eerie place to visit. You can pull right up to the curb in front of the terminals and park your car. Then you can leave it there as long as you want, because there are no taxis, no families pulling out suitcases, nobody at all. It’s just empty. Although there are some private and charter planes that use the facility, their passengers don’t need to use the terminal.

I went to the airport last week to hear about Rectrix Aviation Inc.’s plans for the airport, which are significant. The charter air service, which has four beautiful 10-passenger jets that fly all over the country and the world, will build a $5 million hangar at the airport, starting early next year. The hangar will eventually be filled with about 50 employees.

“Worcester is going to be the heartbeat of Rectrix,” said Richard A. Cawley, the company’s president and chief executive officer, at the press conference. Later, he added, “Worcester can only go up,” which is arguably true about some facets of the city and is certainly true of the airport.

If you didn’t get the chance to attend the press conference, you missed Bobby Orr. Yes, the famous hockey player was there, signing autographs and sending people like Lt. Gov. Tim Murray giddily down memory lane. As a result of Mr. Orr’s presence, there were a lot of references to moving the puck forward and scoring a goal and that kind of nonsense. (Mr. Cawley later called him “an ambassador” for Rectrix, but noted he has no ownership stake in the company. Derek Sanderson, another Big Bad Bruin, is also an ambassador for the company. Sadly, he wasn’t there).

When I spoke with Mr. Cawley he sounded upbeat about the airport’s future. Rectrix took over the fixed base operations at the airport — support services, parking, fueling and maintenance for general aviation aircraft — from Swissport, which had been there for years. (Originally, Swissport and Rectrix were supposed to share space at the airport, but it’s obvious there wasn’t enough work for two companies). Rectrix hired 10 of the 11 Swissport employees, he said, while one employee retired. Rectrix has moved a manager from its facility on Cape Cod to oversee its Worcester operations.

Mr. Cawley said Rectrix — the word means the “quill feather that controls a bird’s direction of flight” — will more aggressively market its charter services to the Worcester business community, now that the company has a foothold at the airport.

“There is a substantial business community in and around Worcester,” he said. “We think there is plenty of demand.”

According to Mr. Cawley, you can charter a Rectrix plane for a cost of between $2,000 and $8,000 per hour, depending on a whole host of factors that I won’t list. Split among 10 passengers, that price isn’t outrageous I suppose, but it is certainly beyond the financial means of most people.

He also said Rectrix may offer passenger service out of Worcester sometime in the future.

This week, a new airline called Elite Airways said it plans to start flying small passenger planes to Melbourne, Fla., starting next year. Worcester Regional Airport was one of several airports listed as possible Elite departure points. Others were Portland, Maine, Portsmouth, N.H., and Niagara Falls, N.Y.

On Thursday, Elite Airways received permission from the Melbourne Airport Authority to begin flying “in early 2013,” with its first flight leaving from Washington Dulles Airport.

Although Elite says it is based at Portland International Jetway, it is not listed on the Portland website. Its website, eliteairways.net, wasn’t working. It’s PR flak knew precious little about the hows and wheres of its business plan. I’m not encouraged.

When Jet Blue touches down in 2014, because Massport installed the $25 million worth of technology necessary to help planes break through the crippling fog that regularly envelops the hilltop facility, Worcester Regional Airport will have come off life support. Until then, baby steps.